I took a bit of an offense of what you said (it sounded like it was directed at me) but you are entitled to speak your mind. It is not a question of being able to afford a certain designer snake, not even close (I have plenty of resources to purchase many of the high end herps on the market; I just choose not to). I have no idea what these patternless rocks are being sold for so taking shots at an animal that I can't own is bogus...my only point was that it is a real shame that captive breeding has stooped to such lows that we selectively breed "out" the most desired traits in a particular snake. After all, even as beautiful as a normal colored rock is, people won't pay the same price as a much drabber looking "unique" morph that just comes on to the market place. It really has come down to the almighty dollar. The same can be said for what we have done to the beautiful corn snake...now all we have are a bunch of mutts on the market. Try to find a pure, classic looking okeetee phase that isn't het for some ridiculous sounding name. I have been in the hobby and profession for many, many years. I basically eat and breathe reptiles and now that I am a bit older, I feel much wiser (and bolder) in voicing my opinions and I will just say that while we have made some wonderful advances in the hobby, particularly with the knowledge we have in captive breeding and some of the many excellent husbandry supplies and equipment, but, we have also taken some major strides backwards. But, in time, there will be a new movement to go back to appreciating "normal" colored herps the way we typically find them in nature. There will be an emphasis on keeping fewer animals in more naturalistic set ups and enjoying these "few" animals. The days of mass production of herps, I believe, will come to an end or be significantly reduced (or end up completely destroying what pure bloodlines we have left)....some of this reduction, unfortunately, will be due to much more strict regulations against keeping of certain types of herps (rocks, burms, retics, anacondas). I better shut up....Sorry that my original point was somewhat deluded by my strong opinions.

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